I also really liked the way the elephant and his mahout got along. The man was always scratching his elephant behind the ears and talking to it. He said the elephant was trilingual and understood Thai, English, and Swedish. I wasn’t so sure about that, but I did know that he never worked it during the heat of midday, and he always gave it buckets and buckets of water.

The next customer, a little girl of seven or eight, walked up the steps and was helped onto the elephant’s back by her mother. The mahout made sure she was safely inside the basket and started walking. The elephant followed. Whatever had been bothering it coming down to the steps didn’t seem to be bothering it anymore.

“Not much of a life,” my mother observed. “Going around and around and getting nowhere.”

“Are you talking about being an elephant or being a lawyer?” my father asked.

“At least no one is on your back.”

“You obviously haven’t been to my office lately,” he joked. “Let’s go back and arrange the snorkeling. Then I can swim in circles.”

We left the little group and started back. The elephant was walking ahead of us in the same direction, the little girl on its back, and the girl’s mother was walking right beside it. She wasn’t taking pictures. She looked nervous, as though she was worrying about being close enough to catch the little girl if she fell. It would have been easier if she’d simply climbed up on the elephant with her daughter.

The mahout led the elephant up the beach and away from the ocean. It seemed to be picking up speed, and both the mother and the mahout started to trot faster, as well, to keep pace. It really did seem as though it didn’t like the sand and was looking forward to having grass under its feet. It reached the edge of the manicured lawn, but as the mahout turned to complete the circuit the elephant kept going straight ahead! The mahout was almost jerked off his feet but he kept hold of the rope, and the elephant pulled him along. The mahout started yelling at the elephant, digging in his heels to try to stop it. The elephant ignored his voice and his muscle. It kept moving up the grass, dragging him along, toward the resort and away from the beach.

The mother suddenly became aware that things weren’t going as they were supposed to and she began to yell and scream, which caused the little girl to start crying. The elephant kept moving—not running, just walking quickly.

“Should we do something?” I asked.

“I don’t know if there’s anything we can do,” my father said. “Look, he’s getting some help!”

Two of the resort staff had joined the mahout, one grabbing onto the rope as well and the second trying to block the elephant. The elephant simply brushed past him and continued to drag the other two along.